Boards
James Ferraro - FAR SIDE VIRTUAL
Has anyone heard this? I don't know when it's coming out, or even what any of the tracks are called, but I've been listening again and again to a friend's promo copy of this lately and IT IS FUCKING RAD.
Sonically, not what I was expecting at all: relatively high fidelity, Windows 95 soundcard inspired soundtracks to the hyperreal - synthesised nostalgia for the SimCity / Rollercoaster tycoon generation. There's even this part at the end of the opening track where it pauses so the main can album can 'load'. Amazing.
No vocals such, but the occasional weird, disembodied computer voices providing nuggets of advice for healthy virtual living: "S-I-M-C-I-T-Y: Get with it", "Try the masterful taste of Dubai's finest wineries", "PLEASE turn left".
From a thematic/theoretic point of view it's *very* Ferraro, of course, but like I said, sonically its a very interesting swerve from the trippy vibes / dystopian fuzz/ lo-fi AM pop that I'd normally associate with his solo stuff.